Tag Archives: Change

Soak it up

Posted in Faith, God, Life, Love by

Day 5: Do something you love

Tonight was the second night service for the year, and I am really glad that it was because it was most definitely my ‘do something you love’.  I love being there.  When there is no night service through January, while I enjoy the decrease in responsibility, there is a bit of a hole in my life.  I know that church isn’t the be all and end all of my faith, but I also know that it is a super important part, gathering together, sharing, learning and growing together.  It’s not perfect, but that’s because it made of imperfect people… but there is a lot of love and it’s good.

Tonight I was really encouraged by the honesty of the worship and in fact the whole service, it was real, not a show, or a routine, but passionate, honest and simple… it’s moments like that that I wish I could just stop time and soak it up.  I don’t think I stop often enough to just sit and be still in the presence of God.  But I know it’s something that I need to do more often… because it’s good… really really good.

This year our church, in particular this service and the youth and young adults bit, is going through yet another transition time but I am really excited about what’s about to happen, and hopefully the lives that will be changed with it and through it, including my own as I continue to grow and become closer and closer to the person that God wants me to be.  I am glad to be a part of the army, and to call this place my spiritual home, I know it is where I am meant to be and am glad that it will continue to be my ‘do something you love’ for a long long time to come.

I’m too old for this…

I have decided I am getting old… I know this seems like an outrageous comment from a 24year old, but it’s true… I used to be able to stay up all night and have no issues the next day… but those days are gone. Last night I stayed up to watch Lleyton Hewitt’s match on TV, which didn’t actually finish that late, but I am really stuffed now… and it sucks, mostly because his opponent Novak Djokovic is only 24 and he was up playing tennis, full on tennis while I was whinging about being tired.

What I want to know is how did this happen? How did I get to this point where I can no longer hack the pace? And how do I get out of it? Perhaps it’s because I am not very fit at the moment, or because my diets terrible, or because I don’t get enough sleep when I should… perhaps it’s all of these things, I don’t really care what’s causing it to be honest, I just want it to stop and go back to the way it used to be… where I could party hard all night and then crash, but not a moment before I was ready! I mean what would happen if heaven forbid I got into cycling and wanted to watch the tour? I would never make it! And what concerns me even more is… what am I supposed to when the Olympics are on this year? I love the Olympics, in fact I can’t get enough of them when they are on… I love the good sports, the popular sports, the terrible sports and the just plain weird sports… how am I meant to soak up all that is London 2012 if I can’t even make it to 1am to watch the tennis? I think the only option is to pretend it’s not happening… So here is to living in denial… were I just pretend I can still do it, like right now and just have to suck it up and deal with the consequences… and in the meantime I can work or getting myself fitter… making more energy, well making my body better at using energy…and with the help of my new exercise piggy bank (no. 86 on The List)…

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I say… bring on the health kick… again…

Can you get sunburnt in the car?

Posted in Curious George by

This is something that I have been thinking, and perhaps worrying about for a long time now, actually pretty much since I rotated to a new site with work, except on rainy days, because it seems less relevant then.  Anyway, since I rotated instead of having a 15minute commute, I have had a 45-60minute commute, meaning I spend a lot more time in the car… This change has also coincided with the change in season, from winter to the warmer months of spring and summer, which has meant I have seen a lot more sun, well seen from the inside of my car, and recently on really sunny days I have noticed that I feel like I am getting burnt as I drive…

The thing is for as long as I can remember I have been of the belief that I won’t get sunburnt in the car… I know that it’s probably not true and it makes sense for it to be completely plausible to get burnt as you drive, after all apparently all it takes is some bent glass and some sun to destroy bugs of all shapes and sizes, but part of me is still unsure.  So being the hypochondriac and skin cancer paranoid person I am, I decided it was time to get some answers… so I putting it to you…

Can you get sunburnt in the car?

Thanks,

The paranoid Curious George.

Saying goodbye to life as I know it

Posted in Life, Study, The List by

Well it’s official last night I enrolled myself into a uni course… again, this one is part-time and off campus which means I will being keeping everything else in my life the same just adding this on top of it all and perhaps I might have bitten off more than I can chew… but it’s too late now, it’s what I wanted, what I had been hoping and praying for and its now in my hands so I need to make it work, but I think it will mean two things… I really really really need to get organised and I am about to become a hermit… a full on hermit…

The thing is I am already busy, over the past 2years I have made a real effort to strip back my life, so to speak, to get rid of the things that I don’t need to do, things that might be good, but not great or the best option for me.  But even with all this saying no, I still find myself busy, but I guess the saying is true, if you want something done ask a busy person.

I am really excited about this next chapter in my life, it will be an interesting process learning how to balance everything again, but it might finally push me into becoming super organised which is something I wanted to do anyway.  In fact it all ready has, almost every night this week I have been sorting boxes and organising books and throwing out stuff that I should have thrown out years ago all in preparation of whether or not I would get the offer and now getting my study backing working order, ready to start.  I am pretty sure that my new course is probably the end of my current social life, which let’s face it, was already becoming non-existent and it will probably make achieving my list more of a challenge, but I think the thing that it will impact most is my holidays… I haven’t had a holiday since our honeymoon and instead of booking something massive and awesome, I have just agreed to make all my annual leave time, placement time for the course, so no long holidays in site for the next 2years… I am guessing that my ADOs are about to become quite sacred.

This isn’t the first time I have been a nerd hermit, and unfortunately I don’t think it will be the last, I survived back then, and I will survive this time… in fact, like last time, I will most likely come out better for it…

2011 – Through the eyes of my iPhone

I feel l like all week I have been reminiscing and I guess it’s the right time of year to do for it, I mean with all the family times over Christmas and with the new looming around the corner, I think it’s a good idea to look back over all that has happened this year.

This year has been full on, part of me feels like it was only yesterday that I was reminiscing on all that had happened in 2010, yet another part of me feels like I have been married forever… It’s hard to even comprehend all that has happened this year, I was going to do a ‘Top 10 moments of 2011’ but I don’t even know where to I would start… I guess there are some obvious highlights, one being getting married and our awesome honeymoon to the states, but there are so many more little moments that I know I’d I miss something special if I started naming them… So instead I thought I would share my project 365 photos from the year and just one highlight… and one lowlight from each month… just to make sure it’s a little bit balanced… So here is 2011… wrapped up in a blog….

JANUARY…

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Highlight: Wedding Planning – Bridesmaid’s dresses, Making the wedding invitations and getting the perfect Cinderella wedding shoes.

Lowlight: Cutting my foot on the escalator at Doncaster… although swimming up the escalator trying to get back to the top was a very very very amusing.

FEBRUARY…

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Highlight: Hairspray… awesome

Lowlight: Working late…

 

MARCH…

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Highlight: Mixed Nuts victory

Lowlight: Cutting my foot… again… and begining to think that perhaps Dave was right and my choice of footwear was to blame.

 

APRIL…

20111231-144712.jpgHighlight: My hen’s celebration… awesome meringues, a weekend at the beach and the royal wedding

Lowlight: Jarring my finger, so much so my ring wouldn’t fit

 

MAY…

20111231-151807.jpgHighlight: Becoming Mrs George and going to New York and Disneyworld with my husband

Lowlight: Getting sick just before the wedding and the panic of being a Rudolph bride.

 

JUNE…

20111231-151816.jpgHighlight: Unpacking all our amazing gifts and setting up our home

Lowlight: Not being the Badminton Champion at SYG…. Again… my time will come.

 

JULY…

20111231-151830.jpgHighlight: Making the best birthday cake ever

Lowlight: Losing my text messages, but its ok coz I got them back

 

AUGUST…

20120101-112722.jpgHighlight: Listening to Davo preach up a storm

Lowlight: Back to full time work for more than a month… and becoming a teaching widow…

 

SEPTEMBER…

20120101-112728.jpgHighlight: Dusty and Jess got engaged… woo hoo, oh and a trip to Warrnambool

Lowlight: The phone and cd player that said no

 

OCTOBER…

20120101-112734.jpgHighlight: Dave’s School’s Star Trek play

Lowlight: Dave getting in the spa with a dead cooking birds.

 

NOVEMBER…

20120101-112740.jpgHighlight: Awesome concerts… Farnsy and Dolly

Lowlight: Bad haircut

 

DECEMBER…

20120101-112745.jpgHighlight: Christmas… what could be better

Lowlight: The Birds that got stuck in the chimney on Christmas eve… way too much drama

So there you go… lets hope 2012 is just as fun

Really listening

Tonight at church we had our annual carols service. This service is a particular favourite of mine as it brings everyone together and it is always a lot of fun. Tonight was particularly special as I got to be involved in a number of different items, in fact some may say that last night I preformed the triple threat… Dancing with my timbrel girls, Singing with 6pm group and acting as part of Benny’s dramas. It was a lot of fun, and with a vocal number from my favourite group of singing sisters, it was a bit magical too. But this blog isn’t actually about the carols service, but it does give me a nice little segue to my blogging topic… as it is about carols…

One thing that has really hit me this Christmas is the words of the carols. I think for so long I have just been playing, singing and listening to the carols that there meaning had become lost, but a little while ago, actually back in November I was driving between sites at work listening to my Christmas playlist and O Holy Night come on and the words of this really beautiful carol really hit me.

I think it was the first time, perhaps ever with this song, that I had actually take the time to really hear the lyrics as I listened… this is unusual for me as I am actually really into lyrics… I am constantly annoying Dave with songs I want him to listen to the words of, so I was almost shocked that I had never noticed before. Or perhaps I had noticed, and I did know the words but I hadn’t fully comprehended their meaning until that moment in the car. Just in case you aren’t familiar with the lyrics… check them out…

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our friend!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

It is such a refreshing version of the Christmas story… a reminder of what actually happened and more importantly what it means for the world. I think some of the lines that hit me hardest were:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

And I think that the reason these words hit me so hard were that the words are still true today. We still live in a world that pines for something better than the sin and error that we live in daily, yet we can’t experience that ‘thrill of hope’ which makes our tired and worn out souls rejoice until we allow ourselves to understand the worth of the Christmas story and God’s sacrifice of his son. But I guess what excites me most is that when we know its worth… there is a new and glorious day waiting for us, one of love, forgiveness, peace, hope and joy and that is the reason for all of this.

I guess it is so easy to forget and get caught up in Christmas as a commercial event, one which even without its true meaning can be a satisfying time to stop and appreciate family, friends and loved ones. But it’s so much better when the true joy and hope of Christmas helps the weary soul to rejoice… it’s the way it was meant to be… in fact when I think about the real reason I celebrate, all the other things that make Christmas exhausting seem to fade into insignificance.

I guess the reason that I post this today is to serve as a reminder… mostly for myself, that I need to make sure I have my focus right as the next week get a little hectic.

Um… I’m an Adult…

Posted in Exercise, Faith, Life, Top 10 by

I know I have mentioned this a few times now, but it turns out I am an adult, despite the fact that it’s been this way for longer than I would like I am still not sure when it happened, or what on earth I am supposed to be doing about it.  I have realised lately that I tend to have a ‘wait and then’ or an ‘after that’ idea about adult things, which probably isn’t helpful.  What I mean by that is I think I am in denial, so instead of just embracing life for what it is, I am waiting for things to happen or change until I start something or try something, you know, waiting for the perfect timing, perfect conditions or perfect situation.  I make plans like after I get married I will… or when I have a full time job I will, or once I am feeling a little more settled I will… and I am slowly learning that this perfect timing, is never going to be here.  Maybe I will never fully feel settled until I start doing some of this stuff, and the more I put things of the harder they seem to obtain.

I am beginning to think that maybe this is what being an adult is actually about… Learning to make do with some times less than perfect situations and embracing life whether it’s ready or not… taking the risk.  The thing is I have always been a procrastinator, especially in big decisions and I tend to panic about whether or not I am making the right choice, the perfect choice, the best choice… but so often I hear people say just take a risk, what’s the worst that could happen, well let me tell you I can come up with a lot of worst case scenarios, but perhaps there is room for both.  I don’t think I am supposed to be waiting my life away, only making decisions I am 100% sure about, but at the same time I don’t want to be making crazy irrational choices, I think there has to be a balance, but I also definitely think that I need to start just doing things, getting into it and turning my life into what I want it to be rather than just waiting till it all falls in place… which let’s face it is never going to happen.

I know in the future, perhaps not so distant any more, there will be lots of crazy situations and decisions to make… like where to buy a house, how we save to buy a house, when to start a family, what we teach our family, where I go with my career?  These are all questions that frighten the pants off me, but they are all things that eventually I will have to face.  But I think for now I will just start with a few things to make me and my marriage better… small, probably not that risky decisions that I just need to embrace and run with… just start doing, no questions and no excuses, before I miss my chance and regret it.

Luckily for me lots of people want to do this too… and recently with the help of wordpress’ ‘freshly pressed’ blogs I have come across a few handy hints to get me started in particular a blog by Tom Basson called “16 Tips to Simplify Your Life (and Increase Your Productivity)”and a blog by Palm Trees & Bare Feet called  “my listy list 5 ways to enhance night time and morning wake up” check them out… So below is a list of a few things that I am going to start with today to help me get organised, stop me wasting my time and helping me to a better version of me.  A better friend, a better wife, a better Christian and a better human.  I am listing them as statements, promises to myself and you I guess, that way they are no longer just suggestions… but hopefully reality…. Are you ready, I’m not but here it is anyway:

1.  I will turn off all technology 60minutes before I go to bed… this one is huge for me but I am addicted to my iphone, the television, my computer, music and all things technological, so I have to give myself some boundaries.  I am going back to the old school alarm clock because I actually don’t need my phone next to my bed all night…and just in case there is an emergency, please call our landline or Dave…  This leads me nicely to number 2…

2.  This one is straight from Palm Trees & Bare feet… I will get up in the morning like I’m ripping of a bandaid… I hate getting up in the morning, I love my bed and I love just lying there being cosy… but no longer… on Weekdays… when the alarm goes off I get up… no questions, no grumbling… just up.

3.  I will Plan my week top to toe so that I can be organised and get everything I need to done… including time to rest.  Over the years I have wasted a lot of money on tables and stationary designed to help me be organised so it’s time to dust it off and use it.

4.  I will exercise at least once a week, I know it doesn’t seem like a challenge, but I have 100 excuses as to why I can’t, I’m tired, the weathers bad, I’m busy… too bad so sad… I will do it anyway

5. I will eat one sit down meal with my husband each week… again it doesn’t seem like a challenge but it’s surprising how little we see of each other most weeks… so I am making it a priority.

6. I will do my devotions at least twice a week… seriously these last three seem like they should be easy, but they aren’t they are hard, because they are easy to push aside… so its time to make this a priority too… I would like to think that I would actually do this more often than twice, but I am constantly telling my clients to make SMART goals, specific, measurable, achievable,  realistic and timely, so its about time I started doing it myself, setting goals I can actually achieve, rather than pie in the sky dreams that I will just be disappointed I can’t reach.

So there you go, that’s my list for now…. I might even give them their own page so I can keep you updated about how I am going, but with or with out their extra page… I am doing adult things, making decisions and setting goals… look at me go… I am unstoppable.

Cooking Tips

A regular part of my old blogs was ‘Cooking Tips with Emma’ a segment in which I learnt from my mistakes as I attempted to make myself proficient in the kitchen. Now don’t be confused… When I say proficient… I really mean just scraping through, enough to live and provide a meal ever now and then, but that’s pretty much as high as the bar was set.

However, I would like to inform you that I believe since then I have come a long way… in fact since stepping in to my new role as wife, I have even conquered a few things. Don’t believe me… well here is some pictorial evidence, I know you can’t taste these because they are just pictures, but I reckon that they look pretty flipping good…

Anyway the reason I share this is because I have a new tip… but before I get to that perhaps you need a refresher of the tips to date…

TIP 1: A Blender is not an appropriate substitute for a food processer

TIP 2: When you have visitors…Stick with what you know!

TIP 3: Read the signs…if the oven is in Fahrenheit and the mixers blow up…give up, it’s not worth the stress.

TIP 4: Make sure you always have a mixing bowl. Saucepans are not as good a swap as they appear

Tip 5: Silicon baking trays are risky!

Now granted most of these are based out of disaster… but today’s tip is on a more successful note… A couple of weeks ago Jake and his girlfriend came over for tea and I decided that I would cook for them something that they would not have had before, knowing very well, that they were both fairly ‘safe’ eaters and at times selective. During the afternoon I asked them how adventurous they were feeling and after ensuring me that they were up for something different, I began preparing a dish that I had been taught be some very good mates of mine, Kirsten and Pheebs. A dish which has become a favourite of mine and in fact I would even go as far as to say it is a George Family Favourite… Roast Vegetable and Cous Cous salad, although this one had chicken added as Jake’s girlfriend requires meat with all of her dishes. Despite my apprehension while preparing and even serving up, mainly due to the excessive amount of vegetables and this new ingredient for them of cous cous, it appeared to be a hit, as they both finished their bowls and Jake not only went back for seconds, but mentioned it on his blog… So there you go, I think a pretty successful story… vegetables and a delicious meal were consumed… which leads me to tip 6… which not only comes out of this story, but also out of all those dishes that have gone before…

Tip 6: Even bad cooks can make yummy things with practice

So… if you are feeling a little incompetent in the kitchen, take heart… coz with practice… you might even make something edible… coz I think I have come a long way from my basic cooking course with Claire, all they back in 2006, to mastering A George Family recipe… ‘Red Meat Casserole’ this year… even if I say so myself.